Sunday, 23 November 2014

With the wind and storms dropping, it is
time to take to the water for the most consistent fishing of the year. Winter chinook,
feeders, of 5- to 15-pounds, inhabit out waters in numbers from November to the
end of March and sometimes April.

In the past, much of Georgia Strait was
supplied by chinook from the Cowichan River that have habits that keep them in
our waters for longer than other runs. Typically circling up to Campbell River
and down past Powell River and Vancouver shores and thence back across the
Strait, Cowichan fish were the primary catch and spent more than a year before
departing.

From a high of 25,000 escapement, the
average over past years was 12- to 15-thousand. In recent years, some
escapements were less than 3,000 fish, until last year, when the number of
Jacks alone was 4,000 fish, indicating much higher numbers for 2014 (not yet in
hand). Their habits and run size were reasons that the Cowichan was picked as
an indicator stream for Pacific Salmon Commission negotiations with our
American counterparts.

The Pacific Salmon Foundation, in its
current, Salmon Steward Newsletter, notes that its Salish Sea project has among
its goals, investigating the causes of declined numbers, and methods to change
those. It offers a good, preliminary discussion of the effects of toxic algal
blooms, particularly in estuaries, affecting chinook that, unlike other
species, spend as much as six months before moving offshore; and Strait wide
numbers of other species, particularly coho.

In the past decade, the Victoria/Sooke
area has received far more American chinook from their ramped-up efforts, and
so our fishery has actually improved, but, of course, it would be preferable to
improve Canadian fish numbers.

Two weeks ago, I reprised the drill for
fishing winter chinook: http://onfishingdcreid.blogspot.ca/2014/11/chinook-fishing-arrives.html.
Here are a few more things to think about. Of the five species, only chinook is
relentlessly associated with structure. That means they are found close to
rocks, bottoms, banks, choke points and points of land, typically in back eddies.
But feeders, unlike mature fish, are not going anywhere. They are simply
swimming around looking to put on weight by eating.

Mature chinook are most often found
close to shore structures, even more so the closer they get to their natal
streams. Not surprisingly, they move forward on the flood, that moves them
anyway, and are found in ebb eddies waiting to be pushed forward. In addition,
their feeding reflex declines, hence why more are caught at the crack of dawn
after a night without food, regardless of tide pattern.

Not so with feeders. They are actively
feeding most of the day, with peak periods associated with tide changes. You
need not go out at the crack of dawn; it’s a civilized fishery that needs only
a tide change during your fishing time.

Feeders also move around in their area
chasing food. They will be near food, and will take lures trolled at a faster
speed than mature fish will hit. This is a good thing as you will be able to
cover more territory and have fish location scoped before the tide change. Bait
reading on your depthsounder presents a good place to fish if you have no structure
close by to investigate. An example of such a fishery is the Victoria
waterfront that has two patterns: a close-in bottom structure related fishery
on the bottom 110 feet down.

The second, non-structure related pattern
off Victoria, is: trolling the 180- to 200-foot contour at 140 feet. Near the
breakwater, February and March while the Gorge herring stage before spawning, is
another non-structure example. At the other end, the Powder Wharf off Sidney has
a dramatic structural change that affects concentration of chinook related to
that feature.

One final thing, is that chinook are in
our waters ten to twelve months of the year. The other species pass through in
a two month summer window, and some, like pink, only two months in a two year
period. So, spend most of your time trying to understand chinook as it will
reward you with more fish.

2.Halibut
Regulations

It is time to converse with your local
Sport Fishing Advisory Board members to understand the models being worked on
for next year (I can send the PDF table to anyone who wants it). Here is the
text accompanying the tables:

Recreational Halibut Management
Considerations for 2015

Providing
opportunity over a full season (February 1 to December 31) at the historical
limit of 2 per day and a possession limit of 3 continues to be the primary
objective of the Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) with respect to management
of the recreational halibut fishery.

This
said, and despite the government’s decision to increase to 15% the share of the
total allowable catch available to the recreational and commercial sectors, the
SFAB has been forced to devise ways in which to ration the recreational
allocation amongst anglers by constraining both the possession limits and the
size of halibut that can be retained.

The
measures put in place in 2013 and 2014 have been successful to the extent that
the fishery remained open from February
1 to December 31 in 2013 and will do the same this year. For 2014, the Board recommended continuation
of the experiment with an annual limit of six halibut and the “one and two” possession limit but with an upward adjustment
of the maximum size on both the larger and smaller fish, to 133 and 90 cm
respectively. In late August, as soon as it became clear to the Halibut
Committee that possession could be relaxed to “2 and 2” without any risk of
early closure, this change was recommended and quickly implemented by the
department.

While one needs to be cautious about
interpreting average numbers, there does seem to be a positive relationship
between the decision to increase slightly the size of halibut that could be
retained and the current harvest numbers.
While fewer halibut were retained in 2014, the average weight increased
from 11.77 lbs to 14.24 lbs. This
brought us closer to our allocation, with 150,000 lbs. currently uncaught
compared with 250,000 lbs in 2013. The
fishery remains open and there seems no reason why the
2015 fishery should not open on February 1 and continue to operate under the
present rules until the beginning of the new licence year on April 1, 2014
[sic].

This provides time to review the measures now in place and try to determine whether any changes are warranted that might increase recreational opportunity and expectation while staying within the available allocation. In carrying out this exercise, it needs to be kept in mind that we will not know the size of our share until after the International Pacific Halibut Commission has finished its annual meeting on January 30, 2015.

As we wait for the 2015 allocation number, let’s assume for planning purposes three possibilities: that the recreational sector’s 15% share is 100,000 pounds less than in 2014; that it is the same; and that it is 100,000 pounds greater. We want local committees to review the current season from these perspectives and provide feedback. We ask that any suggestions for change take into account the Board’s overall goal of maximizing the recreational fishery’s social and economic contribution while meeting the recreational Vision principle that “conservation of naturally reproducing fish and their habitat is the highest priority”. We ask committee members to ensure that proposals are conservation based, measurable, enforceable, and able to be implemented at the beginning of the 2015 season on April 1.

This document is being distributed to
the SFAB family with the expectation that local chairs will want to give local
committee members an opportunity to discuss the alternatives and possibly
formulate policy motions. Any proposals
could then be reviewed during the North and South Coast regional meetings in
early December.

The Main Board has
been unanimous in its determination to ensure that the halibut fishing season
remains open as long as possible and I assume that this remains the case. In discussing alternatives to the current rules
it would seem prudent to consider them against this objective and the risk that
the wrong choice results in a larger than expected harvest and imposition of a
closure in late summer.

The members of the SFAB halibut committee
again wish to thank all participants in the SFAB process for their dedication
and willingness to participate in discussion of this complex and often
frustrating issue.

These rivers
have been written about since Zane Grey’s time and the better part of a century
discussion over A. H. E. Wood’s description of ‘greased-line’ fly fishing,
which, as a method is still argued about and performed today. A good discussion
may be found in Trey Comb’s beautiful, Steelhead
Fly Fishing, that has stories on many of the tribs and 14 lovely colour-plates
of low water to big fat, bombers, for waking furrows in the wet. The sparser
flies, Silver Hilton, for example, are laid on classic black salmon hooks, with
their elegant upturned eye and folded back black wire.

You may know
there are classified stretches, and sections that only resident anglers can
fish on the weekends in the fall. The tribs of lore include: the only Nass
trib, the Bell-Irving; and on the Skeena: Morice, Sustet, Kispiox, Bulkley and
Babine. Our Rod Haig-Brown also fished our northern steelhead and wrote about
them. Winter steelhead frequent these northern waters, too.

Atlantic
Salmon: As
suggested by readers that I, or anyone else, should maintain photos and send in
samples of fish that appear to be hybrid, or fully, Atlantic salmon, for DFO
DNA analysis. Steve Baillie, from DFO in Nanaimo, answered my Scientific
Licence Application to retain and forward such fish.

Of great surprise was the following answer: “Atlantic Salmon are not
listed as salmon under Schedule VI of the BC Sport Fishing Regulations,
therefore they come under Schedule IV (Finfish other than salmon). Again, they
are not specifically listed here, so they come under Item 21 which
allows a daily retention of 20 pieces, with no gear restrictions.

“So we don’t require you to have a
Scientific Licence for retention of Atlantic salmon. I’ve included the website
information on Atlantics, which has the identification and contact phone number
for you to call the next time you find one in your landing net. I suggest you
keep this letter in your boat should you be questioned by enforcement staff.”

He attached a sheet from the
regulations: Exotic Alert: Atlantic Salmon in BC. This sheet has visual
identification marks: in a nutshell: 8 to 12 anal fin rays (Pacific salmon have
13 to 19 rays); very noticeable, large, black spots on the gill cover (not
common on Pacific salmon); and, may have very noticeably eroded or worn fins
from containment in net-pens.

The phone number to call is:
1-800-811-6010. And if you intend on forwarding a sample to DFO, I was advised
that a fin clip was enough, and that it should be frozen within two hours of
capture, and kept frozen until it is in DFO’s hands.

In the sheet, if you catch an Atlantic: “DFO
biologists are interested in acquiring as much information about Atlantic
salmon recoveries as possible. Donation is not mandatory, but it does provide
valuable samples for our scientific study. Keep the fish and report the capture
by calling the toll free number [above].”

The sheet goes on: “Please note the date
and location of the catch, as well as other details such as bait type and
depth, if possible. If you choose to eat the fish, please retain the non-edible
portions (head, gut, and carcass), frozen if possible. Otherwise, please keep
the fish whole and freeze it if possible to prevent deterioration of the
tissues. The department may wish to recover the fish from you.”

Baillie’s call to me said it was
preferable to freeze within two hours and etc. The email address for the
program is: aswp@pac.dfo-mpc.gc.ca.

Sunday, 9 November 2014

The calendar year for saltwater salmon fishing
begins in November with the first 2- and 3-year feeder chinook coming into
local waters to feed and grow. It’s time to take out your records and see where
you caught them in the past and what you caught them on.

It is good practice to record every fish
in a log book because the memory gets worn; it also gives date, gear, depth,
location, description of structure, tide pattern and change time. If you use
stainless cable and have a black box, record that reading, too. Waypoints you
enter on GPS fishing charts serve purpose, as well; they will give you exact
information on where, going over structure, you were.

It is also good practice to take local
information from area reports and write that down too, for example, Island
Outfitters’ weekly report; Tom Vaida collects lure, and other, data each week
for many local fishing spots. And then Island Angler and Island Sportsman also
give gear and fishing reports. My Vancouver Island Fishing Guide gives you
information for both winter and summer salmon fishing around the Island.

From the information you gather, make a
fishing plan. Based on tide, decide where to fish, which direction to troll and
the first three lures you will try. I am a firm believer that making a plan
leads to catching more fish. You think things over to arrive at what you will
do and that focusses the mind on taking positive action.

Let me give you two examples. When the
tide is ebbing and I am fishing the Oak Bay Flats to Clover Point, there is a
rock ridge just west of Trial Island that rounds up the fish and deposits them
there over the six or so hours the tide falls. On many occasions I have caught
a fish in this spot, and on the occasional day caught many winter springs here –
85- to 110-feet.

My records note this pattern and it
repeats itself every year because feeder chinook have the same patterns related
to structure every winter. Here is another. There is a spire in the west end of
the Race that comes up to about 47 feet. Also, on an ebb, I once dropped a line
just over the spire as the water deepened. I turned to the next rod, but had
already received a bite on the one rod put out.

The record of that one fish in my log
book has prompted me to, when fishing from Pedder Bay to Church Rock, drop gear
coming off the spire, and many fish over many years. Then there is an empty
patch before Christopher Point, then into good fishing again in Whirl Bay,
which is good structure about 115 feet deep toward Church a standard,
well-fished run in winter that often holds fish.

Having three specific lures in mind is
also a confidence booster that focusses you on the fishing. It gives you a plan
for the first few hours. One of the three should be bait (I always fish one rod
of bait until convinced other tackle is better). It is true that bait requires
more effort. You have to choose bait heads, wire rig them, then add already
rigged leaders with a treble and trailing hook. Make a curve in the bait,
greater toward the tail, test it beside the boat, re-rig and then lower it.

The bait rod should be watched
continually because even a small tap can shred the bait, a distinct
disadvantage compared with gear such as plastics and spoons. Spoons, plugs and
Apexes all are fishing continually, and worry free. Bait should be checked
every 20 minutes so that you aren’t towing a glob no salmon will bite. I put
the bait line on the port side so that sitting at the wheel, it is the easiest
line to check visually.

Don’t change speed once you have put
down bait and the rest of your array. Changing speed results in tackle fishing
differently from what it did beside the boat. With bait, increased speed can
make it spiral out of control and make it slide back in the head so it no
longer resembles a natural fish. Too slow and the bait may not spiral at all.
Oh, and spiral is the right action. A circle is not the same thing as a spiral,
the latter having the tail follow the head in a natural motion of an injured
bait fish. A circle with the tail outside the diameter of the head will result
in no fish, too.

This is the article on my blog that deals
with the nitty gritty of wire-rigging a bait head: http://onfishingdcreid.blogspot.ca/2014/02/wire-rigging-teaserhead-feb-23-2014.html.
The photos give some colours. My winter preferences are pearlescent 602 – it glows
– and glow green. But, of course, there are other heads that catch lots of
fish: Bloody Nose, Purple Haze and Army Truck. Glow and UV properties are far
more important in winter fishing because we fish so much deeper than in summer
and there is less light as water depth increases.

Glow in flashers is also a good thing in
deeper fishing. I use the simplest, green glow, UV, though Purple Haze is also
a standard. Oki has a good idea, too, adding electric current, to some of its
flashers, for example, the Glow Super Betsy, Gold Metallic. As the flasher is
fished there is galvanic current produced in saltwater, the same principle as a
black box. It attracts fish to follow and then it sees the lure.

The other two tackle choices will
typically include glow hootchies/squirts and spoons. To a lesser extent do we fish
plugs these days. In the past, before hooks needed to be debarbed, plugs were
fished more often. Their long tip Siwash hooks aid penetration but without a
barb the fish slides off more easily than other hooks. It helps to emphasize good
fishing technique by keeping your rod tip high and thus pressure on the fish at
all times.

Kirb Siwash hooks by holding the point
to shaft in a pair of pliers (that means at right angles to the shaft) and
bending down, introducing a bend for purchase in a jaw. The downside of this
procedure is that it makes the plug move through the water a little to one
side, but in winter, as we can increase speed, we can make it dart erratically,
eliminating an off kilter motion, and also a good fish-mesmerising thing.

As for plastics, pick up what is
current, but still look at your records. Oak Bay killers are Irish Mist, J-49
and occasionally Mint Tulip. The standard, Purple Haze, with a gold skirt, is
probably the most common pattern used today in all local waters.

Catching Coho in
Rivers: Now is the time to get out your spinners, spoons and Colorado
Blades and head to your favourite river for coho fishing – retention where
authorized. Typically coho are in the deepest part of the soft water. And they
may not porpoise for hours and thus it looks like there are no fish. Run through
your lures, as below, before moving on.

Take the silver hooks off your lures, add black swivels and black
hooks. The coho spots the silver lure in front of them and whacks it, the hook
behind (that it can’t see) already in its mouth.

Fish different colours: pink, orange, chartreuse, green and red,
silver early and gold later, in heavy, clouded water. Purple in tea stained
water, and the Cowichan. Bolos and Blue Foxes in sizes 4 and 5. Use your
ugliest, largest spoons in water with less than a foot visibility – these have
sonic thump, plus visibility.

With inexpensive Colorado blades in silver, gold and brass (not
copper) that you assemble yourself, use a #5 swivel 18- to 24-inches above the
blade and to the tag end, lightly crimp some pencil lead – the purpose is to
have the lead pull free rather than lose the entire rig. If your blade
vibration stops and starts, it is a coho following and touching it with its
nose, collapsing its drag. Redo the cast until you catch the fish.

Coho fishing is best in pouring rain with rising rivers,
particularly in front of small side streams where they spawn. A well-known
example, is Beaver Creek where it flows into the Stamp River below the falls.
The heavier the rain, the hotter the fishing, so when others are watching
Sunday NFL, you get out there and glom the fish.

Cast at the fish from one spot then try different angles, then
take a step up or down and do the casts again, trying different angles, then
rotate through your colours until you find the hot one. Don’t think there are
no fish there or they are stale until you prove it by rotating lures, casting
direction, and by moving to cast from different angles.

Coho, in particular, like to bite lures going directly up stream
and may follow for 25 feet across and up before biting. If you see them all
lined up in shallow runs, try and put your spinner within two feet of their
noses, and watch them follow. This is high adrenaline stuff. Just don’t set
that hook when you see its mouth open to glom the lure. Wait until you feel it
on the rod.

And if you are fishing pools, make sure to fish the back eddies
from down stream. This is because coho line up up-stream, but actually
down-river, if you get my drift. But because they relentlessly want the lure going
up-current, you have to fish from down stream. Don’t think the fish are not
there or not biting until you prove that that is the case. Don’t leave coho to
find coho.

Because coho do the coho roll thing, which jerks tension from high
to low constantly, set your drag tighter than you would for steelhead which
would rip the lure out at coho tension. Coho mouths are hard and with barbless,
kirbed hooks, keep your rod tip high or as far away sideways as possible to
keep maximum tension on the fish.

Fish in front of very small side streams that you would fish in
front of no other time of year. Rising water will create soft water close by
the stream and the coho sit in its scent for as much as six weeks before the
creek is full enough to enter.

If you know there are fish there but aren’t biting, change up by putting
a simple red and white bobber several feet above the spinner. It is surprising
how frequently the float will disappear in soft water, the spinner dangling
directly down from it, but the coho bit it anyway. From time to time, change
action by stopping the float, as this will bring the lure up in the water and
its spin will increase. In addition, for fish downstream that you can’t reach
by casting, float that bobber down to them, and when you stop it right in front
of them, you’ll be surprised how many you may catch.

Also, consider braided mainline, typically 35 pound test, with a
15- to 20-foot leader of 15- to 20-pound clear leader. Braid casts much farther
as it comes off baitcaster reels much easier than 20-pound clear mainline that
gets ‘memory’.

Kuterra Land-Raised
Atlantic Salmon: the on-land Namgis fish farm in the lower reaches of the
Nimpkish has received the top sustainability ranking from the best rating
system in North America – the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

"We are delighted that the third-party assessment conducted
by the Monterey Bay Aquarium has validated Kuterra operations as one of the
most sustainable Atlantic salmon aquaculture operations globally," says
Garry Ullstrom, Kuterra CEO.

The Aquarium examined land-based facilities in BC, West Virginia and Denmark.
All three — Kuterra, The Conservation Fund Freshwater Institute in
Shepherdstown, W.Va.; and Atlantic Sapphire in Hvide Sande, Denmark — received
the top ranking.

About Me

I won the national RODERICK HAIG- BROWN AWARD, 2016, for environmental writing, largely for this blog (www.fishfarmnews.blogspot.com) that has become a global portal for the environmental damage made by Norwegian-style fish farms.
I won the Art Downs Award for 2012 for sustained and outstanding writing on environmental issues, in my case, fish farms.
The award was based on 10 columns on fish farm issues in the Times Colonist newspaper, three public submissions to the Cohen Commission on Fraser sockeye and this blog.
If you want to book me to speak, for a lecture, talk, or panel on fish farm environmental damage, contact me on this blog by leaving a message on a post.